


growing pains

by dykespeon



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight, Beta Concept Art Amity Blight/Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, Beta Concept Art Luz Noceda, F/F, also barcus is a human and king is a dog, luz gets sad but its a mostly light-hearted fic i promise, this is centered around the beta kids!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29571588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dykespeon/pseuds/dykespeon
Summary: amity is leaving for college in the fall and luz is not.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne/Camila Noceda (mentioned), Emira Blight/Viney (mentioned)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 102





	growing pains

**Author's Note:**

> hiiii :D this has no connection to my other beta au fics and is just a one shot with a childhood friends idea i had
> 
> also i have playlists and a pinterest board for this
> 
> beta luz playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/18lcS7TqpQDXCxgHTrlbI8?si=GWUoXsL5TpSvhUaMVyndCg
> 
> beta amity playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4z1bN4aPqSynMntsupeIkK?si=-RUltVXDRg-Zn6QEKco0YA
> 
> beta lumity board: https://pin.it/27G32Lr
> 
> i really hope u all enjoy this!!

Luz sat with legs crossed at a two-seat table outside of Starbucks, holding herself to keep warm from the cold and staring off into the distance, her thoughts consuming her. This wasn't just _any_ Starbucks. Her and Amity had been frequenting it all the time since 8th grade; to themselves, they always called this “our Starbucks.” They'd come for study sessions, hanging out, study sessions that devolved into hanging out, basically any time they happened to be out and about together. Amity knew one of the employees, too. A girl named Skara in the same class of them that'd be graduating that year. Her and Amity were in cheer together, and often the latter would try to use that as an excuse to get a free drink or cake pop (often failing as well). Either way, the café felt like home to Luz, a nice constant that stayed in her life no matter how much changed. It was convenient that it was only two blocks down from her neighborhood, surrounded by fast food joints, clothing stores, and other miscellaneous shops, too.

The tall girl took a sip of her Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino and watched the swarming cars drive by. The outdoor seating area was right by the road, which she found to be nice scenery but Amity hated. She said it made the place smell like a pack of cigarettes. Luz shivered a second after sipping her drink, already regretting getting something cold in the middle of winter. But who could blame her? The cold drinks just tasted better for some unexplainable reason, and she liked spoiling herself with dairy-filled products during winter break. Messing with her digestive system was her definition of fun, dammit. Being bundled up in a t-shirt, sweater, and a corduroy jacket helped with the cold from the outside, at least, but it didn't stop her drink making her insides feel like a freezer. Oh well. She took another, longer sip purely out of spite.

She didn't turn her head when she heard the jingle of the bell on the door, hearing footsteps walking towards her table. Her best friend since forever ago, Amity Blight, came over and sat at the chair across from her, setting her steaming hot black coffee on the table. Their knees bumped when Amity sat down; _that's_ how small the table was.

“Took you long enough,” Luz snarked, setting her drink down as well. “Doesn't it take like, five seconds to prepare a black coffee?”

“I was choosing my drink, smart ass,” Amity retorted.

“And you went with black coffee.”

“Yes I did.”

“Like how you _always_ go with black coffee?”

Amity rolled her eyes. “Shut up. You're so annoying.”

Luz gave a shit eating grin, taking another sip of her drink. Under the small table, she felt Amity pull her free arm towards her and then take her hand in her smaller one. Ah, yes, Amity's ridiculous amount of physical affection even though the two were just friends (Luz wanted more than that but. Whatever). Ever since they were little, Luz had noticed that Amity, while lacking in the verbal affection department and rarely being openly sweet, was always all over her. She'd hold her hand whenever she could, or interlink their arms together while they walked side by side, or cuddle with her at sleepovers, anything. It reminded Luz of how the cats at the shelter she volunteered at would act, always pretending they didn't care but loving scritches and pets and cuddles. It got… _harder_ to deal with once Luz realized her feelings for Amity back in 6th grade, but it was just another part of her friend to her now. Besides, Amity definitely thought of it as platonic considering that, at least in Luz's opinion, she'd never be interested in her. She'd dated loads of people during their friendship, too.

“My parents keep bothering me about college,” Amity started, breaking the silence. “I told them I didn't know what I wanna major in or what university I wanted to go to and they took that as me asking for their help. They're trying to make me be a doctor or lawyer or some boring shit.”

“Dude, that sounds like hell. I'm so glad my mom's fine with me taking a gap year.”

Luz could've sworn she saw a hint of disappointment on Amity's face. She wasn't sure why, she'd told her she was waiting to go to college plenty of times. “Facetime me every day, okay? And don't get a new best friend or anything. I'll be back during the breaks, too,” Amity listed off, looking Luz right in the eyes.

Luz chuckled. “Who could I get that'd replace you as my best friend? There's no one else like you.”

If Amity had blushed, like Luz swore she saw for a split second, it was covered by her taking a long sip of her black coffee. Luz didn't think she could ever be tired of the other girl. Even if everyone else thought of her as abrasive, cold-hearted, mean, stuck up, etcetera, she'd always be attached to Amity. It was the other way around, too. When they met in kindergarten, Amity had decided for whatever reason that they'd be best friends and wouldn't leave her alone until she accepted it. And shockingly, they stayed best friends for thirteen years, now about to graduate highschool together in six months.

Luz thought about how it'd be once Amity left for college. Four years of hardly getting to see her, maybe more if her parents wanted her to get a Master's. She'd probably meet people that were actually productive and could change the world some day. Maybe she'd realize how lame of a person Luz was. No real skills besides playing the drums and being good with animals (and not getting paid for either). Hell, Luz probably wouldn't even get a degree in her whole lifetime. Shit. This might get worse than she thought.

Looking down into her drink and pouting, Luz managed to get out, “I'm gonna miss you, y'know.”

Silence from her best friend, of course. Amity was never very sentimental. Just while she'd started thinking she messed up and said something weird, she could've sworn she heard Amity start to respond, but it was interrupted by the sound of her phone going off. The other girl checked who had texted her, then sighed with annoyance. “My parents want me back home, ugh. They're having guests or some shit soon. We'll hang out again soon, I promise.” Amity gave her hand a gentle squeeze before getting up with her coffee and walking away down the sidewalk. Luz watched her leave, longing for her to come back already.

• • •

“Luz, dude, are you good?”

Luz snapped out the daze she'd been in for the past… 30 seconds? 5 minutes? However long it was, the voice of her friend Viney calling her pulled her out of her trance. She'd kind of been spacing out all day thinking about Amity. She thought hanging out with Willow, Viney, Jerbo, and Barcus might help her feel more grounded, but instead she tuned herself out of the conversation while they ate pizza on Jerbo's couch.

“Uh... yeah. I'm alright. Never better,” she responded after a few seconds too many of silence, looking over at her friends. Ah. All of them had that ‘I'm worried about you’ face on.

“You've been staring at the wall and saying nothing all night. Don't lie to us,” Willow, ever the observant, pointed out.

Barcus signed, _You can open up to us. We're your friends._

Luz sighed through her nose. Why did she have to be friends with such caring people? “Okay, but you can't judge me or anything. It's kind of silly.”

“Aw, Luz, we'd never judge you for anything. Except murdering someone. Or a crime of equal value. Don't do that,” Jerbo chimed in, putting on a welcoming smile. Luz couldn't help but smile just a little; he was always sweet and thoughtful.

“... Well, uh, Amity's gonna head off to college in the fall-”

“You're still hanging out with her?” Viney interrupted.

Jerbo gave Viney a stern look. “What did I just say? No judging friends.”

“But Amity's so-”

“Viney.”

“Uuugh, okay. Sorry Luz, keep going.”

Luz kept her defenses for Amity to herself. She'd told her friends a million times that she wasn't as mean as she seemed, and that it wasn't like she could abandon a friend she'd known so long, but they just decided to agree to disagree about her most of the time. It was whatever to Luz; Amity didn't care what people thought about her anyway.

Luz continued, “So, Amity's going to college. And I'm taking a gap year. And she's only gonna come back for breaks and stuff. She's gonna be gone for _so long_.”

_Some time away from a friendship can strengthen it,_ Barcus signed. _It might be difficult, but this may be a blessing in disguise._

“Yeah, maybe you'll both grow. Amity especially. I hope,” Willow added. She heard the distaste in their voice; it was reasonable, she supposed.

Luz couldn't help but frown. She still didn't wanna be apart from Amity. The few times they'd fought throughout their friendship and hadn't been talking to each other were always painful, but brief, too. “But I'll miss her. We've always been right there for each other.”

Viney shrugged. “Video chat is more advanced than ever and you can text basically whenever you want. She'll just be a little bit busier. It won't be _that_ bad. Emira's been away at college for a year now and our relationship is stable.”

Luz sighed and sunk into her spot on the couch. “It just won't be the same. Besides… what if she realizes I'm just, like… a loser? Whatever fancy university she goes to is sure to have more interesting people than me. I'm barely even passing school and I'm untalented.”

Willow scoffed. “If Amity starts thinking she's too good for you, she'll be the one missing out. Some trust fund kids majoring in political science or something over an actual loyal friend? Not very out of character for her, but if she really abandons you, that's her problem.”

“You're a very good person, Luz, even if you don't think so. You're really loyal and tend to try and do the right thing,” Jerbo said as he reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “You're worth plenty, and I'm sure Amity will see that.”

Luz took a deep breath. She still felt shitty about Amity leaving; that feeling probably couldn't go away ever. But talking about it at least helped a little. And it was nice how uplifting her friends were. “Thanks guys. I, uh, think I need to go home early. Gotta think about stuff, y'know?”

Jerbo gave Luz a side hug. “Do what you need to, bud. We'll be here for you if you need us, okay?”

Luz couldn't help but grin. “Okay, you big softie.” Once her friend let go, she stood up and waved to everyone else, receiving a chorus of "bye"s from her friends. She couldn't get herself to stop smiling now; it felt nice to be cared about. She turned and walked towards the front door, giving a final wave to her friends as she opened it and walked out.

She closed the door behind her, letting out a sigh. She noticed how her breath showed up in front of her; it was colder than it was earlier for sure. Coming over to Jerbo's place with only a hoodie on wasn't the smartest choice, but whatever. Luz made her way over to her car parked on the side of the road and immediately turned on the heater when she got inside and started it up. She decided she'd sit there for a few minutes and wait for it to heat up given how harsh the cold felt.

She pulled out her phone and mindlessly scrolled through Twitter, not really paying attention to what was on her timeline. Scrolling through social media mostly made her brain turn into TV static anyway. Soon enough, she got a text notification from none other than Amity. She opened the text to see a selfie of her friend standing at her mirror wearing an oversized shirt. Ah. One of Luz's shirts. She was wondering where that went.

The caption Amity left read, ‘this shirt is so comfy. it even smells like u lol.’ Luz couldn't fight the way her face flushed reading that. Ugh. Amity was not supposed to be this cute. Now it suddenly felt too warm.

She texted back, ‘u'd better give that back u jerk i really like that shirt.’

‘nah i like it too much’

‘amity!!!!!!’

‘im gonna go to bed now’

‘amity blight dont you dare’

‘goodniiiiiight’

‘sigh. goodnight’

Luz tossed her phone into her passenger seat, then leaned back and looked at the ceiling of her car. Her mind now rushed with thoughts of Amity once more. Great. How was she gonna deal with this giant crush?

• • •

Bright and early at 7 in the morning, Luz's alarm blared and woke her up. For a second she couldn't even tell what was going on, but soon the realization that she hadn't turned off her morning alarm for school kicked in. She groaned and reached over to smack her phone until it turned off, wondering why the hell she decided to make her alarm the Crazy Frog song on repeat. Probably because it annoyed her until she got up and turned it off, but still.

Luz laid there with her face buried in her pillows for a couple minutes, an important part of her morning routine before starting her day. Once that got boring, she turned and sat up, grabbing her phone and immediately going to her settings to turn off her alarm. She did _not_ need that shit waking her up for the rest of the week. Fitting that a Monday had a bad start even during her winter break, in her opinion.

She'd also gotten a text from Eda thirty minutes ago that read, ‘I know its your break and you dont have to come but I could use some help at the shelter today.’

She thought it over for a second. Well, she didn't have plans for the rest of the day, and it might distract her from her Amity issue.

‘sure, ill b there by 8. i wanna see king’

Luz yawned and got out of bed, immediately stretching her arms above her head and hearing at least 5 different bones pop. She went to her closet to get some actual clothes- a tank top and boxers wouldn't cut it for the ice cold weather. She quickly changed into her favorite pair of jeans, her Doc Martens, a t-shirt with a random band she didn't recognize, and two jackets (a denim over a hoodie). She looked at herself in the mirror for just a moment to fix her hair; her bedhead got pretty bad sometimes and it made her look like even more of a mess than she was. She grabbed her phone off the bed and shoved it in her back pocket, as well as her car keys, then left her room to go downstairs and leave. She knew her mom had already left for work (the hospital was far away and her job required stupidly long hours) so once she walked out the front door, she made sure to use the spare key under their welcome mat to lock it. They lived in a practically crime-free neighborhood, but better safe than sorry. Although she wondered if someone could still break in considering how cliché the spot for their key was. Oh well.

She unlocked her car and got inside, this time not caring enough to sit and let it warm up. She definitely wasn't in the mood to be lost in her thoughts like yesterday. She quickly pulled out of her driveway without looking behind her, knowing no other cars would be on the road, and drove out of her neighborhood towards the animal shelter.

The drive was only five minutes, she really could've walked if she wanted to. Would've been good for her carbon footprint or whatever. But it was way, way too early for walking in her opinion. Morning people were a different species for handling that type of shit, but she was not morning people. She enjoyed the bad Top 40's hits on the radio, too. Drowned her out from getting lost in her thoughts.

When she finally arrived at the animal shelter, Luz found a spot in the very empty parking lot near the front and got out of her car. She locked it as she pushed open the front door of the shelter, glad to be out of the cold and embracing the heated air of the building.

She waved at the receptionist, Eda's older sister, Lilith. “Hiya, Miss Clawthorne. Can you sign me in for today?”

Lilith didn't look up from the paperwork. “You're here early, Lucinda. It's winter break for you, isn't it?”

She internally cringed at the use of her full name. Lilith was a pretty formal person, though, so she doubted she'd call her Luz if she asked. She was the human equivalent of a Disney villain, personality-wise. It was shockingly intimidating. “Yup. What better way to spend those vacation hours than with a bunch of cute animals, amirite?”

Lilith looked up at her for just a moment, only moving her eyes, not her head. Dear lord, how did a look make her feel so judged? “I could think of better plans. Eda's feeding the dogs, she's already attended to the cats. She's expecting you.”

Luz nodded and made her way to the side door that lead to the kennels, eager to end the conversation with Lilith. It's not that she was a bad person, not by any means at all. They just didn't mix well. Lilith was such a serious person, and probably saw her as a little kid. She briefly wondered if she'd get along with her mom, or maybe Willow. They definitely knew how to be more serious than Luz did. Maybe she'd get along with Amity. They were both cynical women that acted like cartoon bad guys.

Before the kennels there was a small room with a coffee machine and a single stall bathroom leading off of it. There were two separate doors that went into the cat and dog kennels. Luz grinned seeing there was hot coffee left, grabbing a paper cup from the little cupboard above the counter as well as eight little packets of sugar and the container of creamer. She poured herself some of the coffee, then all of the sugar and a generous amount of creamer along with it. She couldn't handle black coffee like Amity did, especially when Eda used such a strong brew of coffee every day. She mixed up her drink and immediately downed half of it, feeling instantly refreshed.

She wondered if Amity would like being at the shelter with her. She definitely wouldn't like the dogs. Very excitable, slobbery animals that would definitely try to jump on her and lick her face? Yeah, no, Amity would hate that. Maybe she'd like the cats more. Misunderstood animals who's trust needed to be earned. Yeah, that was just like Amity.

Dammit, she was thinking about her again. Luz ignored the growing heart ache in her chest and downed the rest of her coffee, then tossed the cup in the small trash bin in the corner and entered the dog kennels.

Eda was crouched down, sliding a bowl of kibble into one of the dog's cages and baby talking to it in the process. All the dogs had turned towards Luz, including the one Eda was attending to, who immediately rushed out past the older woman to greet her. He stopped before her, his tail wagging so hard his butt wriggled as he barked to get her attention.

Luz grinned, crouching down to pet the dog behind the ears. “Awww, King, did you miss me? I know it's only been a week, I'm sooorry,” she said in a high pitched voice, watching the oversized puppy flop on the floor. He was a fluffy, almost entirely black dog except for his head, which had completely white fur. She would've adopted him long ago if her mom didn't have a severe dog allergy.

“Well, dang it, Luz, I had just calmed him down,” Eda said as she made her way over to the two of them, clearly amused.

Luz looked up and grinned as she rubbed King's belly. “Sorry, my presence is just that charming. I'm totally irresistible.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, kiddo.” Eda ruffled Luz's hair, getting a chuckle out of her.

“So, what do you need me for today? You already walked the dogs and fed everyone, right?” She got up from petting King, who had essentially melted into a puddle of bliss onto the floor.

Eda pulled a credit card out of her pocket and held it out to Luz. “You're on restock duty, bud. You already know what to pick up, but I'll text you a list just in case. Was a total disaster when you completely forgot the cat litter that one time.”

“That was one time!” Luz said, defensive but light-hearted. In fact, she was still grinning. Going to the pet supplies store and buying loads of stuff at once always made her feel… powerful? Was that the right word? Even though it was government funded money and not her own, she felt like she was doing something adult-y. She wondered if Amity just got to spend money like that all the time. It seemed like her parents never cut her off; whenever they went shopping for anything together, Amity could buy just about anything she wanted to. It was always nice when she bought Luz something she really wanted. She always denied it was out of affection, but-

“Kid? You've just kind of been staring at the wall for like, a solid 15 seconds.”

Luz snapped out of her trance of thinking about Amity, quickly turning back to Eda. “Uh, sorry. Don't know what came over me.”

Eda raised an eyebrow. “You don't do that a lot. Something on your mind?”

Luz internally asked herself when everyone she knew suddenly became so damn observant. “It's just something silly. I'll be over it.”

“Come on, you can tell your step-momma Eda anything,” she teased.

“Not my step-mom until you suck it up and marry my mom.”

“Hush. Not the point.”

Luz sighed. “Okay. I'm having… girl troubles. Badly.”

Eda instantly grinned. “Oh, I'm an EXPERT in that department. You know, in college they used to call me-”

“Whatever you're about to tell me, I _beg_ you not to.”

“Got it!”

“Anyway, you've met her before. My best friend, Amity.”

“Who?”

“Green hair, very short, permanently looks like she wants to kill everyone and everything?”

Eda paused for a moment, looking genuinely surprised. “... That wasn't your girlfriend?”

Luz's face flushed. “EDA!”

The older lady put her hands up defensively. “You two are practically attached at the hip when you're together.”

“YES! Platonically!”

“But you don't _want_ it to be platonic.”

“Well… yeah. But she's leaving for college this fall. And she'd never like me back, I'm not her type.” Luz plopped down on the floor next to King again, scratching him behind the ears for comfort.

Eda nodded. “Yeah, straight girls are real hard to deal with.”

Luz raised an eyebrow. “Amity's a lesbian.”

Eda stared down at Luz for a moment, now with confusion. A moment of silence passed.

“What?!” Luz finally burst out.

“You think this girl doesn't like you… why, exactly?”

“Well, like, she's never asked me out or anything. And she's dated plenty of other people during our friendship. She's just not into me.”

“You're _sure_ about this?”

Luz thought about it for a moment. Well, she was the only person Amity ever let close to her for the most part. The people she dated didn't last long and it always felt artificial. Hell, it almost seemed like Amity would rather hang out with her rather than any of her girlfriends. She always did nice things for Luz, too, even if she didn't admit it. She'd tell Luz how she wanted to stay by her side their whole lives and would hold hands with her and cuddle with her and…

“Wait. Hold on.” Shit. Was she getting hints this whole time?

Eda grinned. “So you get it now?”

“Oh, man... Okay, so. Amity _might_ like me back. Even then, she's going to college and I'm not. Maybe she'll realize she can do better.”

“Look, kiddo, this girl is probably in love with you just based on how she looks at you. I thought your mom wouldn't wanna someone like me, I thought she was way better than me. She's a complete ray of sunshine and I'm, well, me. I thought I didn't deserve her. But there's no… deserving people, okay? Sometimes you just love each other despite everything.”

Luz felt relief wash over her just hearing that. She should go to experienced adults for advice more often. Eda was right. Amity had stuck around this long, right? She didn't care who Luz was, she genuinely liked her. She stood up again, facing Eda. “Should I tell her how I feel, then?”

“Duh! Before it's too late. Even if she leaves in a couple months, you two can make the most of it.”

“Yeah… you're right. Okay. I'm gonna do this. Gonna tell her how I feel. Thank you, Eda.” Luz gave her a big, impulsive hug.

Eda awkwardly hugged her back, but didn't fight the smile on her face. “Yeah, yeah. You know I don't really do hugs, kid.”

“Hush. Not the point.”

• • •

Now later in the day, Luz paced back and forth in her room, going through her plan to confess to Amity over and over again through her head. Call her, ask her to hang out, wait for the right mood, tell her. It was simple. It was getting started that was working her up. She'd been on the phone with Amity a million times, yeah, but this was different. She supposed she should just act like everything was normal, right? Just… asking to hang out. Yeah. Alright.

Luz grabbed her phone off her bed and opened it. She took a deep breath and went to her contact list. At the very top was ‘♥ Amity ♥.’ She had this. She could do this. She pressed the call button, only having to wait two seconds before her friend picked up.

A sigh. “Hey, Luz.” More unenthusiastic than usual. Hopefully it meant nothing.

“Uh, hey Amity. Do you wanna hang out tomorrow? We could grab a bite to eat somewhere and go back to my place.”

Another, longer sigh from Amity. “I'd love that. But my parents have impulsively booked a flight to New York. They wanna go to like, five different universities with me and ‘inspire’ me. Lame shit.”

Luz blinked. Ah. She didn't expect all that. She frowned, but hid it from her voice. “Oh. That sucks.”

“Yeah it does.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“A whole week.”

She felt her heart sink. That really sucked. All of this hyping herself up for Amity to be stolen away on a vacation. She realized she'd be silent for a few seconds. “I'll miss you.”

“I'll miss you too. I wanna hang out first thing when I come back.” Amity's voice sounded more emotional now.

“Alright, promise. I hope your trip isn't horrible.”

A sarcastic, short laugh. “Won't be great either. I'll talk to you later.”

“Alright. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Luz hung up, now noticing the lump in her throat. Dammit, she was totally gonna cry. This really, really sucked. It felt more and more like Amity was being taken away from her. Even if by some chance her confession was accepted and they got to be together, college was getting increasingly important in Amity's life. She wished she'd told her feelings earlier. Maybe right when she realized them in 6th grade. But no, she held it in right to the last moment out of fear. How cowardly.

Luz felt tears streaming down her face and sighed, then tried to wipe them away. However, they just kept flowing out of her. She flopped down face first on her bed, burying her face in her pillow and letting herself cry until she drifted to sleep.

• • •

About a day later, Luz was still in her bed and wallowing in her own sadness. Oh, and playing Candy Crush.

Technically, this wasn't her fault. A blizzard had started later the night before, which left her mom stuck at the hospital working and Luz stuck at home. And hey, she at least went and shoveled the driveway and path to her door that morning. She had earned a day of sitting in her room and being sad, dammit.

She knew she was probably being dramatic, it wasn't like Amity was _choosing_ to leave or rejected her or something. But she couldn't get herself to focus on the positive this time. She was running out of time with the girl she loved the most and it sucked and she hated it. Candy Crush was a great coping mechanism. At least she wasn't smoking again like in 10th grade.

Something very odd happened, though. Luz heard a knock on her front door. While there was well over two feet of snow outside on top of it still snowing, with wind raging outside as well. Who the hell was at her door in _this_ weather?

Luz hopped out of bed and ruffled her hair until it felt presentable. She realized was still in her sleepwear (boxers and a tank top) and threw on some sweatpants, then ran downstairs. She walked up to the door and opened it to see an absolute shocker of a sight in front of her.

Amity Blight stood before her, shivering from the cold despite wearing a long coat, mittens, and winter boots. Her cheeks were red as well as the tips of her nose and her ears, and her eyes were puffy from… crying? Probably crying, judging by how small and shaky her voice was when she said, “Hi, Luz. Can I come inside?”

Immediately, Luz's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “Amity? What are you doing here?? Aren't you supposed to be on your way to New York?”

“Didn't wanna go. I'll explain in a second. If you, uh, let me in please.”

“OH! Right!” She backed up, holding the door open for Amity, who immediately went inside and hung her coat up on their coat hanger and kicked off her boots. She was wearing green and red striped socks. Luz couldn't help but find it adorable. “You can get comfy on the couch, I'll bring you some blankets from upstairs.” Without waiting for a response, she ran down her hallway to the closet where they kept their spare bedding— blankets, pillows, even stuffed animals, anything to keep an emergency guest comfortable —and opened it, grabbing two of the nicely folded blankets on the shelf above.

This felt ridiculous. How long had Amity been in the cold for? Did her parents do something bad? What the hell did she do to end up at Luz's doorstep? She shook her head and decided her friend should tell her what happened before jumping to conclusions, and came out back to the living room with the blankets. Amity was sitting with her knees tucked in on the couch, hugging herself. She'd taken off her mittens and they were set down on the coffee table. Luz felt her heart swell like she needed to protect her.

“Here,” she said as she approached the couch and set the blankets beside Amity. “Can't have you freezing to death in here. Do you need anything else? I can make hot chocolate or-”

“Thanks, Luz. This is enough.” She undid the nice folding on the blankets and pulled them towards herself, now wrapped in them right up to her arms. “So, uh. Should I explain what happened.”

“Yeah, please, that'd be great.” Luz ignored how adorable Amity looked at the moment and sat down right next to her.

“Well, our butler was driving us to the airport. I was upset of course, and I didn't hide it. There was shitloads of tension in the car. But finally my mom started going on about how I needed to start accepting that I'm growing up and I can't mess around all my life and blah, blah, blah, expectations. But then… she mentioned you.

“She said I couldn't keep hanging out with lower class citizens or whatever. That I needed to let go of you because you're holding me back. Stupid bullshit. We started fighting, of course, and I just… lost it. I don't really wanna be a rich snobby lawyer or whatever they wanna make me be. College sounds awful. I don't like school. So I told my butler to stop the car and ran out. I don't know how far I ran, but I went into the woods to make sure I wouldn't be followed. It felt like I ran for hours. I eventually made it out on a totally different part of down and called an Uber to take me here and… now I'm here, I guess.”

Luz was ready to cut Amity off and scold her for putting herself in danger, but the latter kept going. “I don't really know what I wanna do with my life, but it's certainly not what my parents want from me. I do know there's one thing I want, though, and it's… you. I don't want a life without you, Luz.” Amity reached a hand out to her own and intertwined their fingers together, now looking her in the eyes instead of staring forward. “You're the only person that listens to me and understands me and actually gave me a chance. You've stuck with me through everything, even when I've been a complete jerk. There's nobody else in the world that I'd wanna be with more. I love you, Luz.”

Luz felt a million different emotions swirling through her, none of them coherent. However, they culminated in her saying, “That's so gay.”

The pair stared at each other for a second before both launched into a giggling fit of excitement and relief, still holding hands. After calming down, though, Amity rested her other hand on Luz's cheek, which caught the other girl by surprise. The shorter girl had a genuine smile on her face as she looked up into her eyes. All Luz could do was stare at her face and think about how pretty she was and how close they were.

“Can I kiss you?” She asked in a quiet voice and earned a nod from Amity. Oh. Oh shit. She was about to do this. Luz leaned down and forward, her eyes slowly closing. This really was happening. She tilted her face to the side and caught Amity's lips with hers, and felt the other girl pull her closer as she did. It felt more meaningful than any other kiss she'd had in her life. It felt like fire was running through her veins and her heart raced at a hundred miles an hour. She felt like she'd done the impossible. Amity Blight loved her and Luz Noceda loved her back, and nothing in the world stopped them.

It ended all too soon, and the pair leaned towards each other, barely separating. “I love you, too,” Luz said. That was all she could say now. “More than anything.”

• • •

_9 months later…_

• • •

A cool, September breeze aired through the open door of the apartment as Luz carried in the last box of her and Amity's things and plopped it on the floor, then looking at her girlfriend and grinning. She was crouching on the floor, petting their newly adopted dog, King, and baby talking to him. She was glad they were getting along.

“That's everything, Ami. We just have to take it all out of the boxes now. Can we do that later?” Luz plopped down on their new couch, which they had to call Willow to help with carrying in.

Amity smiled as she walked over and sat next to her, then gave Luz a kiss on the cheek. “Yeah, I have to start my shift in an hour anyway. Hopefully the customers aren't as shit as usual today.” She'd had to get a job after her and her parents completely cut ties after senior year ended. Amity made it clear to her parents that she wasn't going to college and next thing she knew she had to move out and live with Luz and her mom over the summer. Wasn't all too bad, though, considering how much nicer Camila was than her nightmare parents. No more unlimited cash flow, though.

Luz chuckled. “Don't yell at any of them today, okay?”

Amity rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, Skara tells me not to every day. They're so damn impatient about their drinks, though.”

“And now you know the pain of customer service.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“Wanna just sit here for a second?”

“Absolutely.”

Luz felt her girlfriend lean on her and take her hand in hers, and immediately felt content. She was still getting used to being with Amity. Not because they acted any different now, they really didn't. But it felt so relieving to finally be with her. So she leaned her head on Amity's and closed her eyes, enjoying what she had at last.


End file.
